Santa Cruz County: CoSMoS v3.1 Central California flood hazard projections: average conditions

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Santa Cruz County: CoSMoS v3.1 Central California flood hazard projections: average conditions
Abstract:
This data contains geographic extents of projected coastal flooding, low-lying vulnerable areas, and maximum/minimum flood potential (flood uncertainty) associated with the sea-level rise (SLR) and storm condition indicated. The Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS) makes detailed predictions (meter-scale) over large geographic scales (100s of kilometers) of storm-induced coastal flooding and erosion for both current and future sea-level rise (SLR) scenarios. Projections for CoSMoS v3.1 in Central California include flood-hazard information for the coast from Pt. Conception to the Golden Gate. Outputs include SLR scenarios of 0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, and 5.0 meters; storm scenarios include background conditions (astronomic spring tide and average atmospheric conditions) and simulated 1-year/20-year/100-year return interval coastal storms. Methods and processes used in Central California are replicated from and described in O'Neill and others (2018). Please read metadata and inspect output carefully. Data are complete for the information presented.
Supplemental_Information:
This work is one portion of ongoing modeling efforts for California and the western United States. For more information on CoSMoS implementation, see https://www.usgs.gov/centers/pcmsc/science/coastal-storm-modeling-system-cosmos
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Barnard, Patrick L., Erikson, Li H., Foxgrover, Amy C., and O'Neill, Andrea C., 20200504, Santa Cruz County: CoSMoS v3.1 Central California flood hazard projections: average conditions: data release DOI:10.5066/P9NUO62B, U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center Santa Cruz, California.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Barnard, Patrick L., Erikson, Li H., Foxgrover, Amy C., Limber, Patrick W., O'Neill, Andrea C., and Vitousek, Sean F., 2018, Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS) for Central California v3.1: data release DOI:10.5066/P9NUO62B, U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, California.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -122.641953027
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -120.444512138
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 37.819520138
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 34.403744888
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Beginning_Date: 20-Jan-2017
    Ending_Date: 25-Sep-2019
    Currentness_Reference:
    oldest dataset used through publication date
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Flood hazard projection data in shapefile formats
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      This is a Vector data set.
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      Grid_Coordinate_System_Name: Universal Transverse Mercator
      Universal_Transverse_Mercator:
      UTM_Zone_Number: 10
      Transverse_Mercator:
      Scale_Factor_at_Central_Meridian: 0.999600
      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -100.000000
      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 0.000000
      False_Easting: 500000.000000
      False_Northing: 0.000000
      Planar coordinates are encoded using row and column
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 2.000000
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 2.000000
      Planar coordinates are specified in meters
      The horizontal datum used is North American Datum 1983 (NSRS2007).
      The ellipsoid used is Geodetic Reference System 80.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.000000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257222.
      Vertical_Coordinate_System_Definition:
      Depth_System_Definition:
      Depth_Datum_Name: NAVD88
      Depth_Resolution: 2.0
      Depth_Distance_Units: meters
      Depth_Encoding_Method: Implicit coordinate
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    CoSMoS v3.1: Santa Cruz County
    CoSMoS projections (Source: originators at United States Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center)
    Flood projection for given sea-level rise (SLR) value, low-lying vulnerable areas, and maximum/minimum flood potential (flood uncertainty)
    area of inundation (Source: model derived) geographic extent of projected coastal flooding and potential low-lying vulnerable areas associated with sea-level rise and storm conditions indicated

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Patrick L. Barnard
    • Li H. Erikson
    • Amy C. Foxgrover
    • Andrea C. O'Neill
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
    This project was funded by U.S. Geological Survey. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center.
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Attn: PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA
    US

    831-460-4747 (voice)
    831-427-4748 (FAX)
    pcmsc_data@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

These data are intended for policy makers, resource managers, science researchers, students, and the general public. These data can be used with geographic information systems or other software to identify and assess possible areas of vulnerability. These data are not intended to be used for navigation.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
    DEM (source 1 of 2)
    Tyler, D.J., Danielson, J.J., Poppenga, S.K., and Gesch, D.B., 2018, Topobathymetric Model for the Central Coast of California, 1929 to 2017: U.S. Geological Survey, Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

    Online Links:

    Type_of_Source_Media: online
    Source_Contribution: Topographic and bathymetry elevation dataset used in models
    GCM data (source 2 of 2)
    Pierce, D.W., Cayan, D.R., and Thrasher, B.L., 2015, LOCA Statistical Downscaling (Localized Constructed Analogs): Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, California, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, California.

    Online Links:

    Type_of_Source_Media: online
    Source_Contribution:
    statistically downscaled Global Climate Model (GCM) data for California
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 01-Dec-2017 (process 1 of 8)
    Determined regional 100-year, 20-year, and annual storm events, as well as average conditions for study area. Generated storm-event boundary conditions for Tier I simulations. See O'Neill and others (2018) on CoSMoS framework.
    Date: 01-Aug-2018 (process 2 of 8)
    Obtained topobathymetric DEM data. Set up and populated Tier I/II Delft-3D grids bathymetry from DEM.
    Date: 30-Oct-2018 (process 3 of 8)
    Finished initial grid and FLOW-WAVE model structure within Delft-3D. Finished test storm (January 2010 storm including tides, waves, wind, and pressure) and tide scenarios (no atmospheric forcing, FLOW only) with initial QC checks. Checks included quantitative comparisons to tide station water levels within Central California study area and output comparisons between model versions to determine model accuracy and consistency.
    Date: 15-Jan-2019 (process 4 of 8)
    Began simulations for each scenario. Began post-processing Delft-3D and XBeach output within Matlab (v. 2015b) to make spatially cohesive flood projection. See O'Neill and others (2018) for information on model framework and outputs.
    Date: 19-Oct-2020 (process 5 of 8)
    Edited metadata to add keywords section with USGS persistent identifier as theme keyword. No data were changed. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
    Date: 01-Dec-2020 (process 6 of 8)
    Repackaged shapefile. A data transfer error occurred with the originally posted Santa Cruz County CoSMoS shapefiles (ver. 1f, posted on Science Base in May of 2020). As a result, disconnected, low-lying polygons were missing from the southern two-thirds of the county, as well as some small, isolated polygons in the flood extent and flood uncertainty layers. The data transfer error had a very minor impact upon the flood extent and flood uncertainty layers, eliminating some pixel-scale ponds around the flooding perimeter representing less than 0.001% percent of the flooding area. This data transfer glitch was discovered, and the Science Base shapefiles revised and reposted as version 1g, December 2020. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Amy Foxgrover
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA

    831-460-7561 (voice)
    afoxgrover@usgs.gov
    Date: 13-Oct-2021 (process 7 of 8)
    Performed minor edits to the metadata to correct typos. No data were changed. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Susan A. Cochran
    Geologist
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA

    831-460-7545 (voice)
    scochran@usgs.gov
    Date: 26-Mar-2026 (process 8 of 8)
    The metadata title was modified to move the location to the beginning of the title. This was done to meet new system requirements as ScienceBase is migrated to a new platform, and to keep datasets grouped by location on the new data release landing page. The associated Network Resource Links were updated to reflect these changes to the data release landing page. (20260326). Person who carried out this activity:
    Manda Au
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Data Management Specialist
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA

    831-460-7575 (voice)
    mau@usgs.gov
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
    O'Neill, A.C., Erikson, L.H., Barnard, P.L., Limber, P.W., Vitousek, S., Warrick, J, Foxgrover, A.C., and Lovering, J.L., 2018, Projected 21st Century Coastal Flooding in the Southern California Bight. Part 1: Development of the Third Generation CoSMoS Model.

    Other_Citation_Details:
    O'Neill, A.C., Erikson, L.H., Barnard, P.L., Limber, P.W., Vitousek, S., Warrick, J.A., Foxgrover, A.C., Lovering, J., 2018, Projected 21st Century Coastal Flooding in the Southern California Bight. Part 1: Development of the Third Generation CoSMoS Model: Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, vol. 6, art. 59, https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse6020059.

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
    Attribute values are model-derived extents of flood projections, low-lying vulnerable areas, and maximum/minimum flood potential (flood uncertainty) due to plausible sea-level rise and future storm conditions and therefore cannot be validated against observations. The projections were generated using the latest downscaled climate projections for Central California and calibrated hydrodynamic models. See O'Neill and others (2018) for more information.
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    Data are concurrent with topobathymetric DEM locations.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    N/A
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    Dataset is considered complete for the information presented (as described in the abstract) and will be updated as necessary as improvements are developed. Users are advised to read the metadata record and cited references carefully for additional details.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    Data have undergone quality checks and meet standards.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
Access_Constraints none
Use_Constraints USGS-authored or produced data and information are in the public domain from the U.S. Government and are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize and acknowledge the U.S. Geological Survey as the originator(s) of the dataset and in products derived from these data.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase
    Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Mail Stop 302
    Denver, CO
    USA

    1-888-275-8747 (voice)
    sciencebase@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? File (CoSMoS_v3-1_flood_hazards.ZIP) contains flood-hazard projections for sea-level rise and storm scenarios indicated.
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.
  4. How can I download or order the data?

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 26-Mar-2026
Metadata author:
U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Attn: PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
2885 Mission Street
Santa Cruz, CA
US

831-460-4747 (voice)
831-427-4748 (FAX)
pcmsc_data@usgs.gov
Metadata standard:
Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/pcmsc/DataReleases/ScienceBase/DR_P9NUO62B/SantaCruzCounty/CoSMoS_3.1_flood_hazard_projections_average_conditions_in_SantaCruz.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.51 on Fri Apr 10 16:37:39 2026